INDIA – Bigbasket, one of the largest online grocery service companies in India, has partnered with iD Fresh to launch a ready-to-cook (RTC) label iD Fresho to capitalize on the easing demand for fresh and nutritious food.

Bigbasket is a leading player in the online grocery market and has operations 30 cities in India, recording about 15 million customer orders per month.

Bengaluru-based iD Fresh delivers its flagship idly dosa and vada batter, along with parota, paneer and filter coffee across 30,000 outlets in the country, and US and UAE.

The partnership is expected to help Azim Premji-backed iD fresh, known for its preservative-free instant foods, widen its D2C market through Bigbasket’s large customer base.

Bigbasket is also poised to benefit from the partnership as its customers will now have to access iD’s RTC range.

Hari Menon, co-founder of Bigbasket, said, in a press statement that the new partnership will further diversify his company’s offerings even as it prepares to adding more ‘First to Market’ product innovations.

According to the press statement, following the launch, products of the new brand will be sold in tier 1 cities and select cities in South India as the company works on building volumes around idly dosa and vada batter.

“We see this partnership as a fresh food revolution happening online. As health and hygiene become a priority for many – with more people working from home and restricted movements – we have a social responsibility towards our customers,” said PC Musthafa, co-founder of iD Fresh Food.

iD Fresh aims to reach one million households by March 2022. “Three years from now, we expect Rs 100 crore annual revenue from this initiative,” Musthafa added.

Earlier in May, The Competition Commission of India (CCI) gave the green light for Tata Sons’ proposal to acquire a majority stake in Alibaba-backed BigBasket.

Tata Digital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, had sought CCI’s approval to acquire a 64.3% stake in Supermarket Grocery Supplies, the business-to-business arm of BigBasket, through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases.

The transaction, which marks one of the largest M&A deals in India’s digital sector, will put Tata in direct competition with Reliance’s Jio Mart, Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, apart from SoftBank Vision Fund-backed Grofers.

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